He said: “It tends to be something that comes in that is completely left-field.”

Mr Swanepoel, who runs a global cryptocurrency business headquartered in London – with operations in Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, South Africa and Singapore – said cryptocurrency had the potential to enter into our everyday lives.

He said: “We are not building a gambling or trading company.

“What we are building, in the long, run is going to be useful for people in their everyday lives – they will be able to use it for transactions.

“But the reality is, a lot of people at the moment are using it to speculate and invest and that means the Bitcoin price has quite a big influence on adoption.

“It is a temporary thing – but it is a reality of life.”

Mr Swanepoel explained his company operated in a “pragmatic” way when it came to cryptocurrency, understanding the importance of working with the banks and pursuing regulation.

He said: “We are very pro-regulation.

“We are one of the more pragmatic players in the industry because of the more conservative way we built the company.

The former Education Secretary said: “Given the high price volatility, the hacking vulnerability of exchanges and the potential role in money laundering, the Treasury Committee strongly believes that regulation should be introduced.

“It’s unsustainable for the Government and regulators to bumble along issuing feeble warnings to potential investors, yet refrain from acting.”